Chapter 8

Chapter 10

The environment was hauntingly still as though this entire behemoth had never been animated not five minutes ago. What little rain fell from the sky had been enough to cast down the plumes of smoke from the collapse of the walking monstrosity. The building we had seen atop the walking island was in fact a large factory. However this factory was from in working condition. Only the largest and most reinforced parts of the factory survived the crash- and survived barely. Loose bricks, broken steel and pulverized concrete littered the grassy stretches of land outside the factory proper like how a child leaves his toy room a mess after hours of play. Absolute devastation. Still the singular smoke tower, however deactivated, towered and loomed over us like a great, judging specter that threatened to collapse with a stiff breeze. In fact, if you paid attention you could see the odd brick plummet from its heights.

Besides the tower, the most intact building was what I hazard to be the factory proper though I could tell it had seen better days. There were holes in the roof, walls and more window panes were shattered than intact. The red brick building was covered in numerous scorch marks as though there had been multiple fires that burned hot enough to scorch the walls.

“This place is a ruin, a tomb.” I remarked under my breath as though there was someone I did not wish to hear me. Being this close to one of the Seven gave me an inexplicable sense of wrongness and trepidation.

“Dat is because it is. Tread carefully Cyndah. Can you not feel it?” Ubuntu pointed a wrinkled simian finger towards the main complex. The door was aged but reinforced with steel, however with enough strength I could break through the brick wall if need be so the door was far from an obstacle. But I doubt Ubuntu would be so pedestrian as to think a door would stop me. No, upon a second look at the door I could feel he meant WHO was behind that door. The first of the Seven. The more I concentrated on the door the more I felt a palpable sensation of dread and malice boil up in me like a teapot. I turned my gaze away reflexively.

“It’s in there Cyndah. But we cannot rush into battle. I have told you enough times the Seven are ghosts and cannot be slain by normal means.” The sorcerer paused and expanded his arms to notion towards the whole complex. “Dis place carries de memories of who this person use to be before Malefor cursed them. Der are clue here we must find if we wish to truly abolish this phantom from our world. Only when we are armed with their memories can we truly dispel their curse.”

I remembered Ubuntu’s previous warnings. The Seven were phantasms from my past given physical form to wreak havoc once more. Each of them used to be a person before I- under the thrall of Malefor- destroyed their lives in a particularity heinous way. And for some unknown reason these Seven had returned from the grave to lash out at any and everyone. I still knew not exactly how they returned to this world but I did know they were an imminent danger to everyone and that would have to be enough for me currently.

I digested Ubuntu’s instruction before turning to look down and nod in affirmation at the bearded mage. If this factory had secret memories to discover about this phantom, then I would find them. “Where should we start?” I asked.

Ubuntu blinked his one eye and shrugged. “You must explore. Trust your instincts, your heart will show you the way.”

“Me? You’re staying here?” I commented incredulously with a less than happy flick of my tail.

The elderly ape sat down on a flat piece of what had to have once been a wall and laid down his walking staff. “These are things you must discover for yourself. Should you need help in divining a possible location return here and see me. In the meantime I will meditate to regain my strength.” Ubuntu crossed his legs, closed his eyes and connected his thumb and index fingers together to meditate.

I raised a brow, I wanted to argue he should accompany me as he was adamant about coming along but I ultimately decided not to. The ape was old and the less wear and tear I put him through the better. Plus I could move faster on my own. I just wished Spyro was here.

“Well… any idea where to start?” I asked having accepted his decision.

Ubuntu hummed and I saw his brow furrow as he concentrated. “I see….. a burned building, small, it smells of alcohol. The Seven are obscuring my sight but dat is what I can make out.”

Ancestors preserve me. Burned out buildings that smelled bad was like ninety percent of this place. I stowed my complaint and thanked Ubuntu and told him I’d return once I retrieved the memory and went on my to explore.

“Be careful Cyndah. Their master lies in the heart of the factory but I sense his minions skulk among the ruins. Be mindful but remember- you are the key to their salvation.”

And so I left.

I walked along a path of debris and scorched refuse. All sorts of garbage and rubble littered the field and coupled with the tall untamed grass it became a chore to not step on it. I just passed a porcelain sink that was half submerged in mud when I felt a sting on my forepaw. I spat and brought my paw to find a cut that oozed a droplet of blood. Blast that hurt! It was then that I noticed there was shattered glass all around the ground. A wall from a nearby building had collapsed and I deduced that was the cause of this hazard. I flapped my wings and gathered air under me until I had enough altitude to safely coast. I dared not risk flying too high only to have that beam somehow reawaken and add to the danger so I would coast for the time being.

The island seemed devoid of life like a graveyard, lonely and forgotten. Honestly if the situation was different I could almost find this place tranquil. Something about quiet ruins put me at ease, like, I could relax and be forgotten by the world for a time- and on the days I was forlorn over my past wrongs, I felt I could forget myself in places like these. I thought of the ruins of the old Dragon Temple Spyro and I had lived in a lifetime ago. That place was a ruin- this place felt more like a skeleton. I resolved to not let myself become distracted at this time. We were not safe….

I flew over a burned out husk of a building. The roof was gone allowing the rain to pool on the cracked concrete floors. The rain mixed with the ash to form an ugly soupy texture that added to the gloom. This place was not a graveyard- graveyards are places of rest for the honorable dead. This was a charnel house scarred by the wanton destruction of the past age where the dead were left where they fell. The more I trekked in towards the islands epicenter the more bones I found. No complete skeletons but femurs, ribcages and skulls sans their lower jaw. Bones joined the litter, tossed there as callously as the refuse I previously traversed. Ancestors above what happened here?

I flew over more ruined buildings when I felt the faint scent of petroleum tickle my nostrils. If I was not a dragon I might have missed it but I knew that sulfuric smell anywhere. I looked down and saw another burned out husk of a building but remarkably it retain its roofing. Ubuntu called it small but it was big enough for me to enter if I closed my wings. Hopeful, I descended from the sky and came to an easy landing. Through the scorched black marks I could make out a sign, ”The Crunch!” the sign said. Puzzled I approached. Even now I could feel a sense of displacement as though entering the door would be entering somewhere not of this world. The first memory lay just beyond.

I touch the knob only to have the door fall impotently off its hinged and shatter from age and abuse. I entered regardless.

Pristine! The Crunch was pristine- or at least compared to what it currently was. The once wretched hovel was now a lively tavern where men and women drank, shout and smoked in one boisterous atmosphere of revelry. I walked in but no one seemed to notice me. No one made eye contact. The sensation was alien and more than a little unnerving. I felt drawn to a certain table however. I made my way through the crowd to the corner of Crunch where a group of men were drinking from large glass mugs and playing a card game. I had the urge to sit down and watch them and almost on autopilot, I did so.

A skinny unkempt wolf with an eyepatch and derby hat dealt the cards to his compatriots. The others appeared hazy and I could not see them properly. When I tried my vision swam as though I had water in my eyes. I quit that endeavor for the wolf and his friend- who were both in perfect vision. The other man was an obese fellow, a pig with a five-o-clock shadow and worn overalls. He had big meaty hands but his face gave off a soft vibe like he would give you the shirt off his back if you asked.

“Hit me.” The pig man said in a deep but gentle rumble.

The wolf drew a card and slapped it heads down to him. He checked his own cards and sneered.

“How’re the wife and kids Porker?” The thin wolf asked and drew a card.

The pig gave a deep and defeated sigh. “Shelia’s still worried. She says we should evacuate before Cynder’s horde gets here but I ask her where should we go? There’s nowhere to really go. Besides all I know is the steel mill like my pa and his pa before him.”

The wolf man nodded somberly and drew a card. “Yeah I feel ya. Dayna wants to flee too but we don’t got enough dough to up and leave. Maybe if you have the money of the Lyons or sumthin’ but us working people gotta stay and fight.”

Porker took a swig or his beer. “True. I just hope we can drive Cynder’s apes out of Törg. Something just feels… dark about her.”

The wolf threw his hands up in the air. “Yer tellin’ me. Pfft- dragons. Always tryin to take over the world, can never just leave others alone. Makes me glad they’re extinct here. The less dragons the better. Besides the point- Törg has been invaded hundreds of times and we’ll be invaded a hundred more but no one has been able to defeat us forever. We always find a way to resist.”

Porker grimaced and looked dour. “I’m sure not all dragons are bad. Cynder is just a bad person but that should not damn all dragons.”

The wolf rolled his eyes. “When did ya become a preacher? You’re a steel worker the last time I checked. Just let Cynder come up this way. Her apes will learn to fear the hills of Törg….”

And just like that I was back to reality! I found myself sitting inside the now dilapidated and devastated bar. Crunch had used to be a rowdy bar for off-shift steel workers. The table they sat at before was now nothing more than wooden fragments burned to cinders. To see the place so beyond dead now almost brought me to tears. So much life, imperfect, messy, dirty but altogether beautiful life cut short by my hands. I needed to make this right. This place needed to die and be put to rest for good….

Before I could lament more in the bar I heard shuffling outside. I surveyed my surroundings but found nothing. A heartbeat later I heart the whistle of something hurtling this way like artillery! Wasting no time I dashed out of the hovel and not a second too soon. The bar erupted in a fiery explosion that sent me forward with more than a few splinters piercing my scales. I landed with a thud as more debris clattered to the earth with tiny embers still burning. I looked skyward and saw the smoke stack beam was charging! Damn! I forced myself up only to find I had more company! Bones rolled from the grass and empty buildings and began to to connect to each other. More and more bones joined the pile and soon I was face to face with a skeleton titan that stood easily three feet over me! I held a piece of roof sheeting in one “hand” and in the other it wielded a warped steel girder in a bastardization of a club and shield. It’s hands were actually multiple skeletal arms bending in unison to mimic a hand.

It screeched a horrible metallic roar that made my teeth ache from the sheer volume. I forced myself to my four feet as the monster reeled back to swing the girder. I felt stabbing pain from the wood shrapnel of the explosion as I forced myself to move. Blood seeped from the wounds but I did not have the time to remove them properly.

The girder crashed into the ground sending dirt and clumps of grass everywhere but I had evaded it luckily but I could not fight it! Not in my condition. I opened my maw and spat corrosive breath at the horror. The lime green acidic spit hit the large but slow creature and it moaned with an otherworldly rumble as several bones melted to green goo. I spat again but this time it blocked my acid with its shield which I noticed was not simple roof sheeting but instead a reflective metal square.

KABOOM! Another explosion detonated near me and shot me skyward like a toy. I did not have time to recuperate so I instead hit the earth hard. I think a rib might have cracked too. I squirmed and grit my teeth in pain as I tried to summon the will to get up. I saw the bone titan stand up again but it no longer had the strength to carry the girder so it simply dragged it along the earth leaving a carved path. I noticed the beam charging again- no not a beam- the fall must have damaged it because now it was just shooting explosive blasts. I could not fight them both. I needed to use them to my advantage somehow! I had an idea- it was desperate but so was I.

I goaded the monster over to me. I called it names but refrained from moving. From here the titan was between me and the tower. A few more feet and it would eclipse the tower from my sight. We were going to see how smart that beam was very soon.

The bone titan picked up its girder and pulled back for a great heave. Dammit the beam was not firing! Why had it now become smarter?! I spat acid at its arms which were both dedicated to swinging the girder and unable to block. I move out of the way again as the titan clamored backwards. It’s bone arms were melting away at the shoulder. The black sockets of its eyes glared at me. I had neutralize the girder arm! It’s something! I spat acid again, I could feel my mana begin to deplete. To my dismay the titan not only blocked it but that metal shield reflected the acid spit back at me! I backpedaled and watched the acid sizzle in the dirt inches away from me. But that shield could reflect attacks! I needed to adjust my combat for my new foes.

My body screamed at me when I rolled to the side around the bone titan. My shrapnel wounds were like needles stabbing into open wounds and burned like a salted wound. I wiped small tears from my eyes as I just at the titan’s arm. Bony hands grabbed at me at all angles. There were many but they still broke with relative easy. Carpals snapped and cracked as a punched and clawed at the titan. It tried to shake me off but without another arm it was hard pressed to do so. Eventually I cracked four femurs which had been re-purposed to be the shield arm. When the bones broke the reflective shield fell to the earth. I broke free of the hands and dove for the shield. The tower must have deemed me far away enough to fire or that the bone titan was done for. I heard the resounded boom as the tower fire at us. I grabbed the shield, spun and face it head it head on. This was going to work or I was going to be vaporized….

The shield burned hot and I nearly dropped it. But I lived still! Not only that but I heard an explosion in the distance. Carefully I dropped the shield and saw I had reflected the blast back at the tower. Pillars of smoke bellowed from the base of the tower as it leaned precariously and swayed. A second later its structural integrity was no more and the tower caved and fell forward towards us! I flapped my wings- ignoring the pain and flew for my life. The bone titan was helpless when several tons of brick and mortar crashed down on it, turning it into dust. Dust and dirt shot up into the air several feet nearly reaching me. As the tower feel the cacophony of screeching metal sounded like a beast from the underworld roaring in rage and agony.
But finally the tower was no more….

I landed- more like slowly crashed- by a bombed out storefront a minute later. My breaths were shallow and weak. I sat down by a rusted bench and breathed a sigh of relief. The tower was vanquished. Smoke still plumed from the wreckage in the distance but for now things were quiet. I pulled a jagged piece of shrapnel out of my arm and dropped it. It was covered in my blood. I pulled out a few more pieces. My wounds pained me greatly. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I channeled what little mana I had left to cast a regeneration spell. I was not a skilled healer but a few piercings and cuts I could handle. Preferably I would have returned to Ubuntu but I could go no further. Not only did my wounds hurt but once the battle was over I felt fatigue settle in like a heavy blanket as the adrenaline wore off. I was mired in slow thoughts and lethargy. With my last act of strength I cast the healing spell on me and was soon exhausted and I fell into unconsciousness.